Archives for September 2013

September 20-22, 2013, the Awakening Together Board of Directors and Member Board Trustees gathered together in Canon City, Colorado. One purpose of that meeting was to sign the Awakening Together Constitution. It was agreed to and signed on September 21. A copy of the Constitution is posted on our website.

As long as we have a single goal: Truth, the way it is uncovered is not our concern.

When I first moved in with my friend, Regina, there were certain things that really scared me…simple things that I was afraid of. I tried to force myself into healing them but I found that as I forced healing, I was really causing myself more pain along the way. It wasn’t until I let go of control over my healing that I finally started to take a step forward.

The only thing I think I have always had is some degree of willingness. But sometimes that willingness took the form of me being patient with myself. Forcing myself to do something I was extremely uncomfortable with while hating myself the whole time I was doing it, was not helpful and it seemed to simply stir the ego pot. Learning to be gentle with myself even though I felt like a scared idot, was the first step for me. Allowing myself to be as I am…while telling God I had willingness to practice my life differently was quite helpful.

I also gave effort to move forward as able…but only when I saw that God was leaving me a clear opening to take a small step. Allowing the path to unfold for me, and then just taking a small step forward if I feel ready, is what seems to work for me. Liking myself anyway is something I am still working on. Loving myself anyway…well…we’ll see how God handles that one.

I get a lot of comfort from reading A Course in Miracles (ACIM) but I have to admit I have not had some of the spiritual experiences that others say they have. I feel guilty to say this, but I’m not sure I really believe everything I read and frankly I’m not always sure I believe in a God…

Liz’s answer:

First, I want to point out that the feeling of comfort that you have when you read A Course in Miracles is the Holy Spirit (Teacher of Truth) within you. So that is one spiritual experience that you do have. It’s important to recognize that you do feel the Holy Spirit when you read ACIM so that you can recognize the experience in other contexts as well.

There is never any reason to feel guilty for being honest. In fact, you cannot move forward without first acknowledging to yourself what you are truly experiencing. There are two lies that people commonly perpetrate against themselves on a spiritual path that are huge obstacles to peace. One is thinking that “belief” is all that is required. But “belief” is only a decision to intellectually accept something as true whether or not you have experienced it as true. It’s really a con that you play on yourself. You either experience God (Reality; True Being) as real or you do not. So “believing in” God means nothing. Experiencing God is the goal and leads to true peace.

The other lie that many perpetrate against themselves is blind “faith” in God. But you either trust God or you do not. Pretending to trust God when you do not really do so only increases your fear, stress, and guilt. Trust comes after many, many experiences of God because God is a wholly different experience from the one that you are used to in your identification with a limited body/self. You cannot force trust. You either feel it or you don’t.

Acknowledge your doubts to the Holy Spirit, even if you are not certain It exists. You have nothing to lose being open and willing to experience God. If God turns out not to exist then everything stays the same. You won’t gain anything, but you won’t lose anything, either. And if God turns out to be true then you gain Everything. Even after many experiences of God I often fell into doubt and I’d say, “I don’t know if You exist but I’m willing to experience You if You do.” More important than the words was a feeling of true openness. And always something occurred within me to show me that my True Being is beyond the limited experience of the self.

In time, after many undeniable experiences of God, you will not give power to the doubts. The ego (personal thought system) will never accept that God is real, but it speaks only for itself, never for you. You will know that God is real and release the ego.

There is only AWARENESS.

Sages have called this by many names—God, Pure Spirit, I AM THAT AM, Absolute Reality, the Nondual Self, Brahman/Atman, Being-Awareness-Bliss, Tao, Unborn Buddha-nature, Dharmakaya, Zen Mind, Clear Light, the One, and so on.

Awareness, while being entirely open, transcendent, formless, changeless, timeless, spaceless, and world-less, is also THIS which is right now looking, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting, thinking, intuiting. Awareness has also manifested ItSelf as all these sensible/perceptible objects—namely, the various sights, sounds, textures, smells, tastes, thoughts, memories, emotions, psychic impulses and other momentary arising-vanishing formations or phenomena.

Awareness is thus WHO YOU REALLY ARE and EVERYTHING EXPERIENCED, that is to say, Awareness is WHAT EVERYTHING ESSENTIALLY IS. The phenomenal universe of minds and bodies (99.9999999999% empty space at the subatomic level, according to physics) is the marvelous, mysterious “dream-play” of Divine Awareness. In other words, all worlds of form(on physical and subtle levels) are the expression of formless Awareness. All changing “things” are manifestations of the unchanging NO-THING (the transcendent Awareness-Spirit-God-Self) that YOU ARE.

You cannot know, perceive, find or grasp Awareness as an object of experience, since Awareness is fundamentally not an object. Rather, Awareness is the eternal Subject (one might even say: Awareness is THIS which subsumes and transcends the subject-object split). Therefore, YOU can only BE Awareness, abide as THIS Awareness, remain as THIS, flourish as THIS, shine as THIS, and freely function from THIS Awareness. You cannot touch or look at formless Awareness, just as a fingertip cannot touch itself or the eye cannot directly see itself. In short,though Awareness is not knowable or perceivable as an object, Awareness is quite live-able and be-able, because YOU ARE THIS AWARENESS.

Everyone is always actually coming from or functioning from pure Awareness. But not everyone is conscious of This. A kind of Divine sport, mischief or play (Sanskrit: lila) is rampant, wherein beings (who are, after all, the God-Self in disguise) appear to have forgotten their real nature. They masquerade in various forms of egotism, not living in/as Divine Love. They appear to be caught in various states of greed, aversion, shame, anger, frustration, fear, euphoria, boredom, confusion, despair, and so on.

How, then, does it “feel” to be awake to one’s real identity as Divine Awareness? Direct experience along with the testimony of sages reveals that Divine Awareness is most authentically and gloriously being lived when the following enlightenment factors are present:

• A sense of utter freedom and simplicity, akin to “zero-gravity.” Behavior is spontaneous, free-flowing, unstuck, unfixated. One is simply available and motivated only to love and serve all beings as OneSelf.

• No more felt-sense of separation between a “me over here” and a “you/it/them out there.” Rather, there is the nondual intuition of profound oneness with all beings as their very Heart. One “loves thy neighbor as thySelf,” and his or her true Self is right HERE, zero-distance from “my” true Self. There is just this Omnipresent Open Divine Reality, the Self in Whom all beings live, move and have their being.

• No manipulative pulling or pushing of experience with heavy, binding likes-dislikes, attachments-aversions, greed, lust, anger, fear, disgust, hate, and so on. (Various emotions may arise from time to time, but are immediately or fairly quickly recognized and “seen off” as not being one’s real nature but merely passing Divine dream-expressions, and so are dissolved in Clear-Light Awareness.)

• Whatever happens in the manifest world of forms (the phenomenal field of unmanifest Awareness) is not resisted or denigrated, but loved and appreciated as the poignant, playful expression of Spirit. And, most paradoxically, there is a strong but spontaneous Divine motivation within this non-resistance and sense of inherent perfection to remedy injustices, right wrongs, heal traumas, and help improve conditions for all sentient beings and the commonweal. The Self of all selves is in profound nondual empathy with all selves, who are the poignant personal play of THIS Supra-personal One Awareness-Isness-Aliveness.

• One is quite content to just be, not driven by any restlessness or a sense of dilemma into the busy-ness of egocentric “having and doing.” One is deeply relaxed, living out of the peace of “deep sleep wakefulness” (as sages paradoxically call it), even in the midst of helpful actions.

• Genuine happiness prevails, not restless giddiness: a simple bliss, not dependent on circumstances or people for fulfillment. The essence here is being clear, not “getting high” through agitated euphoria or rushes of adrenaline.

• Though fallible aspects of the personality may still infrequently arise, their healing transformation happens lightly within an overall Taoist sense of “perfection perfecting itself perfectly.”

• One is in Love, radiant as Love, always dying into and reborn as Love in each timeless moment…. Love for and as the Self of all selves.

If there is somehow the feeling that “you” aren’t authentically living from True Nature, the Real Identity or Spiritual Awareness, there is nothing “you” as an ego-sense can really “do.” Spiritual realization occurs spontaneously via the Grace of Awareness, not as the result of causative ego-efforts.

Yet being in the presence of true sages is a big help. Enlightenment communicates itself—not as a dualistic “transmission” but as a profound type of “resonance” within the Self-same Self.

Sages have also given some classic counsel on ways for the ego-sense to subside, for the personal consciousness to open up to the clarity and emptiness-fullness of Supra-personal Consciousness. That is to say, for the spontaneous full awakening to THIS REALITY which is “always already the case”:

Just BE—and no need to get restless or make a big deal out of just being. Just deeply relax andlet go of all sense of being a thing-like “me.” Let selfish self dissolve (“die”) into Being. Detach and abide as the undisturbed Witness from all sensations, thoughts, memories, emotions, self-images, and whatever else may be fixating you. (Whenever formations arise in consciousness, there is just watching and letting go of them, moment by moment…) Empty out. Dwell as no-body, no-mind, no-thing. Remain as the pure Absence which manifests “the Presence” of consciousness, energy, experience, relationship, totality. Be quite simple and uncomplicated, without struggle or striving or posturing. Come from natural depth, not the surface mind, though in fact YOU, the real YOU, are the totality of surface and depth, inside and outside, everything and No-thing.

Remember that there is no need to become pure Awareness—YOU already are THIS in your original truth. Let body-mind function spontaneously, freely and lovingly according to the Divine Will, and simply stay or abide as what YOU always fun-damentally are: the vast, spacious, seamless, unlimited, radiant expanse of Clear Light-Awareness. Know that, amidst all the changing aspects of your world, YOU are the Changeless One that has been and will be unchangingly HERE throughout “your” lifetimes. Underlying all perceptible forms and persons, YOU are the formless Awareness that is miraculously “dreaming” these forms and persons. This Awareness is complete and unimprovable—the pristine openness/emptiness/fullness of Divinity.

Moreover, this Divine Self of Absolute Awareness, YOUR real identity, is not “in the world.” No, the world is in YOU, it floats in Awareness like an amazing dream. The world is the mysterious, poignant expression of this creative Awareness, which is eternally savoring all kinds of experiences of ItSelf while being utterly free of all experience.

Beyond/before/during all forms and experiences, AWARENESS ALONE IS … right HERE (closer than the body-mind-ego), the Groundless Ground of All, the Only Being, the Pure Experiencing of all experiences.

May all be awake as this Absolute Being, this Divine Love, this incomparable Bliss, this perfect Freedom.

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Articles published in Awakening Together Insights or on the Awakening Together Blog represent the spirit of Awakening Together. When we select articles to publish, we select articles that meet these guidelines:

For example, articles that directly indicate one spiritual path or teacher is better than another spiritual path or teacher would not be accepted because it is not in harmony with our core values.

2 – Articles avoid jargon and attempt to use language that is more commonly understood or includes a definition of terms that are used.

All spiritual paths have jargon that is common to practitioners of that path but not commonly understood by people who are not familiar with that path. For example, Buddhists understand Anapanasati, students of Vendata understand Atman and students of A Course in Miracles understand the Course’s meaning of the word atonement, but people who are unfamiliar with those paths may not understand those terms. Words are symbols and there are no perfect words; however, do your best to use language that is not path-specific.

If it does feel important to use path-specific language, be sure to define the language as you use it. For example, “When I looked at the clock and saw how much time had passed, I realized I must have been in samadhi, a deep meditation beyond the self.” Once a term is defined, it may be used throughout the article, for example, “Since my efforts to return to samadhi have only brought suffering, I realize I need to accept this present state as holy too.”

If an acronym is used in your article, be sure to fully introduce the acronym the first time it is used. For example, “I was reading A Course in Miracles (ACIM) when she walked up to me.” Once the acronym is introduced in the article, it may be used throughout the remaining portion of that article. For example, “I am so happy ACIM came into my life.”

If you have a personal reference for your inner guide, for God, for awakening or for anything else, you may use that reference in your article if you introduce it the first time it is used. For example, the first usage of a personal reference may look like this: “In my heart, I long to pop. Pop, for me, is a symbol of awakening.” Later use in the same article may look like this: “I find myself reading over and over again the story of Guatama Buddha’s pop.”

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It is very easy to read something, accept it intellectually and repeat it without having true inner clarity regarding what those words mean. Typically when we do this, our writing sounds very much like the source we read and accepted. Whenever we write from our own inner clarity, the writing also has our own unique style. Write from your own experience and inner wisdom. Although you may quote other sources in your article, quotes should be less and your own sharing should be more.

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Sometimes clarity seems to come through the personality and mind of the author and sometimes it seems to come to the author from another (or inner) source. We realize clarity can come in either way and accept both styles for submission.

Eckhart Tolle and Adyashanti are examples of written clarity that appears to come through the author’s personality and mind. A Course in Miracles (ACIM) and The Holy Spirit’s Interpretation of the New Testament (NTI) are examples of clarity that appears channeled. Whether your clarity comes through you or to you, it is your clarity and may be submitted.

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Lisa Cairns speaks about the ego thought system, and the falling away of attachments. She guides the listener into a beautiful process of “naturally letting go” – in which she uses her personal life to illustrate this process.

“But to you who are strong enough to bear it, I say you need no mediator between you and Me, for we are One already. If you can but know it, you can come direct and at once to Me in consciousness.” Joseph Benner, The Impersonal Life

I’ve noticed lately that there’s been a pattern in my life of holding strict preconceived notions of what genuine spiritual teachers should be. I’ve always believed they needed to be extremely knowledgeable and wise, patient, calm, kind, always loving and peaceful, unambitious and totally unconcerned with material things. Equating age with wisdom, I also felt that spiritual teachers should be much older than myself. Needless to say, I’ve had to re-examine these beliefs quite often over the years.

Years ago when I attended church, one evening at Bible Class I asked the pastor a couple of straightforward questions and he couldn’t answer them. It was soon apparent that on certain spiritual subjects I knew more than he did, which was fairly disconcerting. Another minister who I was very close to surprised me with the revelation that he struggled with alcohol addiction. “But he’s a minister, how could this be??” I naively thought to myself at the time. Yet another pastor I knew often displayed a disturbingly greedy side to his personality during his short tenure at the church. Years later, after joining a different spiritual organization, I became very impressed with a leader there but was soon left feeling quite disillusioned after her duplicity within the association was revealed.

Now in the last couple of years, I’ve noticed spiritual teachers going off on rants about other teachers or teachings and purposely starting arguments on Facebook and in other Internet forums. I’ve also observed highly respected leaders becoming very defensive with those who didn’t agree with them. All of this has provoked in me a certain level of distress and from time to time, I would think to myself, “Whatever happened to peace, love and understanding?” “How can these people who I’ve looked up to, who have provided me with so much spiritual comfort and wisdom over the years behave in this manner?” Fortunately, I think I’ve found the answer.

Joseph Benner, channeling the Divine in his book The Impersonal Life, states, “Wonder not at the sometimes wonderful words of Truth that come from mouths apparently unfit to speak them and comprehending not their meaning; nor at the fact that simple followers oftentimes awaken faster than and grow beyond their teachers. I Who dwell within both teacher and follower choose different conditions and provide different ways for the expression of My Attributes in each different Soul, fitting each into just the time and place where they can complement and help each other the best; thus uniting all into the most harmonious expression of My Idea possible under the circumstances.”

In other words, despite what we may think at the time, everything is perfect. Benner says that most of our disillusionment occurs so that we will turn within instead of without for Truth. I think this makes sense, after watching enough teachers and gurus fall off their pedestals the only one left to turn to is yourself. We’ve all heard time and time again that the Kingdom of Heaven is within, so why do we look without so much? It’s a shame we don’t trust ourselves more and the innate divine wisdom we all have. I think when we all begin to do this and stop “worshipping false Gods” then we will be much happier.